A rather difficult week at work kept me from blogging at The Pietist Schoolman. I’ll be back to my usual schedule in a day or two, but in the meantime, here’s some of what I was reading elsewhere: • What little writing time I had went into an Anxious Bench piece on the religious history of the world’s … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • Why historians “need to get in the way of death and practice resurrection.” • Once again, the rumors of the lecture’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. • According to one British historian, German Pietism “[rekindled] the love affair with God that had been Protestantism’s beating heart since Luther.” …There and Everywhere • Oddly, the firing of an FBI … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • Spring semester is barely started and I’m already thinking about a new course for the fall. • Just how economically diverse are the student populations at Christian and church-related colleges? • While David Swartz is on hiatus, I’ve been extending his Anxious Bench series on “Unexpected Sites of Christian Pacifism.” …There and Everywhere • On the … More That Was The Week That Was
Of the all chapters that I’m primarily writing for our book on Pietism and the future of Christianity, none has been harder to write than the one that will lead things off. Here’s how it currently starts: We’re going to have a lot to say about “hope for better times” in this book, just as Pietist … More Sneak Peeks of Our Pietism Book: What’s Wrong with Christianity?
If you had asked high school or college Chris to name his favorite TV show, Star Trek would have been near the top of the list. I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation right from its 1986 beginning, and in the process worked my way back to “The Original Series,” which debuted on NBC fifty years ago tonight. I’ve enjoyed … More Religion in Star Trek
Here… • The week started peacefully, and oddly, enough with a little piece about North Korea, time zones, imperialism, and Sabbath. • Then I knew that I’d be publishing a guest-post by Devin Manzullo-Thomas providing historical context for Goshen/Eastern Mennonite controversy in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). • I didn’t know that Devin’s post would become … More That Was The Week That Was
Well, this should give bloggers plenty of material for a few months: the Pew Research Center has released preliminary findings from the 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study, based primarily on a national survey of over 35,000 adults. This comes seven years after the first such study and points to some important trends — and at least a … More Four Key Findings in the New Pew Survey of America’s Changing Religious Landscape
Here… • “Here I stand, I can do no other… That’s how Playmobil designed me!” • Remembering a dear friend reminded me why I love the church. • The American freshman of 2014: less religious, more likely to go to grad school, but otherwise a lot like her counterparts of 2004, 1994, 1984, and 1974. • This … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • As if I needed any more proof that I’m Minnesotan: I’m still blushing from the superlatives lavished on our Pietism/higher ed book by its endorsers. Thanks, Amos, Jake, John, John, Rhonda, and Shirley! • GW Carlson on Glen Stassen: “Stassen’s calm but passionate presentations suggested that we need to take seriously the Sermon on the … More That Was The Week That Was
Today’s “best of” post comes from late April. It came to mind because I’ll be spending today and tomorrow doing exactly the kind of work that puts me at risk of what Parker Palmer called “functional atheism… the unconscious, unexamined conviction that if anything decent is going to happen here, we are the ones who must make it … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: When I’m a “Functional Atheist”
